🤯 A scale experiment
What does a billion actually look like?
We start with $1. Every time you scroll, the money doubles.
$1
Scroll 0 of 30 · 2^0
💵
A single dollar. Your starting point.
$2
Scroll 1 of 30 · 2^1
$4
Scroll 2 of 30 · 2^2
$8
Scroll 3 of 30 · 2^3
$16
Scroll 4 of 30 · 2^4
$32
Scroll 5 of 30 · 2^5
$64
Scroll 6 of 30 · 2^6
$128
Scroll 7 of 30 · 2^7
$256
Scroll 8 of 30 · 2^8
$512
Scroll 9 of 30 · 2^9
$1,024
Scroll 10 of 30 · 2^10
📱
A high-end smartphone.
$2,048
Scroll 11 of 30 · 2^11
$4,096
Scroll 12 of 30 · 2^12
$8,192
Scroll 13 of 30 · 2^13
$16,384
Scroll 14 of 30 · 2^14
$32,768
Scroll 15 of 30 · 2^15
$65,536
Scroll 16 of 30 · 2^16
🚗
A luxury car.
$131,072
Scroll 17 of 30 · 2^17
$262,144
Scroll 18 of 30 · 2^18
$524,288
Scroll 19 of 30 · 2^19
$1,048,576
Scroll 20 of 30 · 2^20
🧍
A stack of bills as tall as you.
$2,097,152
Scroll 21 of 30 · 2^21
$4,194,304
Scroll 22 of 30 · 2^22
$8,388,608
Scroll 23 of 30 · 2^23
🏡
A luxury house.
$16,777,216
Scroll 24 of 30 · 2^24
$33,554,432
Scroll 25 of 30 · 2^25
$67,108,864
Scroll 26 of 30 · 2^26
$134,217,728
Scroll 27 of 30 · 2^27
✈️
A private jet.
$268,435,456
Scroll 28 of 30 · 2^28
$536,870,912
Scroll 29 of 30 · 2^29
$1,073,741,824
Scroll 30 of 30 · 2^30
🏢
A skyscraper.
The scale of it · thinky.fun
Doubling got you to a billion in 30 scrolls. Counting there, one a second, takes 31 years.
A million takes 11 days. That gap — 11 days to 31 years — is what exponential growth quietly hides.
Share the dread